The embodiments described herein relate in general to the field of power generation. More specifically, the embodiments described herein relate to systems and methodologies for forecasting the generation of solar power.
There is a great interest in replacing or augmenting electric power generation by using solar power. Solar power is the conversion of sunlight into electricity, typically using photovoltaic cells or concentrated solar power. An advantage of solar power is the removal of the need to discover, mine, or drill for fossil fuel sources and lower emissions. A disadvantage of solar power is that the output of a solar power plant varies based on the availability of sunlight. The availability of sunlight changes based on time of year (there is less sunlight available in the winter than in the summer), time of day (there is no sunlight available at night), and weather (cloud cover reduces the level of available sunlight).